647

Come, Sing to God with All Your Heart

Scripture References

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Our songs and prayers include honesty before God in which we express the pain we experience over our own sins and failures, the difficulties in both our lives and others’ lives, and our laments at the suffering and brokenness that marks our world and our lives. We have assurance, says Belgic Confession, Article 26, that Christ, our intercessor, will hear us, “since he suffered, being tempted, he is also able to help those who are tempted.”

 

We are encouraged to approach the throne with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Belgic Confession, Article 26, based on Hebrews 4). “We grieve that the church…has become a broken communion in a broken world” (Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 40).

 
We also “lament that our abuse of creation has brought lasting damage to the world we have been given...” (Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 51). And we cry to God for those who suffer in our world, knowing “that God…is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged...” (Belhar Confession, Section 4).

647

Come, Sing to God with All Your Heart

Additional Prayers

Eternal God, righteous Judge,
rule this world with truth and grace.
Inspire your people to such joyful praise
that every nation will proclaim your glory and every knee will bow before your Son,
who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
— Psalms for All Seasons (http://www.psalmsforallseasons.org)
A Prayer for Vindication
O God, make this a bad day for tyrants. Displace them with righteous rulers. Vindicate the oppressed. Right their wrongs. Raise them back up to the full stature of human beings created in your image. Crown them with glory and honor, so that even their children and infants will silence foes and avengers by singing your praise with all their hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
— Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
647

Come, Sing to God with All Your Heart

Tune Information

Name
MORNING SONG
Meter
8.6.8.6

Recordings

Musical Suggestion

Psalms 9 and 10 taken together form an acrostic poem. These paraphrases by Ruth Duck maintain the connection between these two psalms. They may be taken separately or sung consecutively.
— Psalms for All Seasons (http://www.psalmsforallseasons.org)
647

Come, Sing to God with All Your Heart

Hymn Story/Background

Psalms 9 and 10 may have originally been one psalm, and are so treated in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), since together they form one acrostic poem with sections that begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Therefore it is entirely understandable that Ruth Duck decided to write a composite setting of these two psalms, even though they are so different in content.  Praise predominates in Psalm 9, whereas Psalm 10 is more a cry for justice. But both psalms plea for God to remember the poor and weak who suffer under the rule of proud and ruthless tyrants who oppress and crush those under them. Those prayers are needed again today on behalf of brothers and sisters who live in “cruel chaotic times” (648:3) in too many parts of our world. Worship leaders should consider which ever stanzas are most appropriate, perhaps using some from both settings as part of a prayer of intercession. 
— Emily Brink
MORNING SONG is a folk tune that has some resemblance to the traditional English tune for "Old King Cole." The tune appeared anonymously in Part II of John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music (1813). In 1816 it was credited to "Mr. Dean," which some scholars believe was a misprinted reference to Elkanah K. Dare, a composer who contributed more than a dozen tunes to Wyeth's Repository. In the original harmoniza­tion the melody was in the tenor. The tune is also known as CONSOLATION (and KENTUCKY HARMONY), its title in Ananias Davisson's Kentucky Harmony (1816), where it was set to Isaac Watts' morning song, "Once More, My Soul, the Rising Day."
— Bert Polman

Author Information

Ruth Duck (b. 1947), is a professor of worship emerita at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Her powerful texts have emerged as the major part of the cutting edge of language that speaks of God in universal terms and in poetry that is as poignant as it is stoic. GIA has published fifty-eight of her texts in the collection Dancing in the Universe (G-3833). Seven of them are also set in octavo form. 

Before coming to Garrett in 1989, she served as pastor at United Church of Christ parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. Her undergraduate work was done at Southwestern-at-Memphis University, which is now called Rhodes College. 

She holds two masters degrees—one from Chicago Theological Seminary and one from the University of Notre Dame. Her doctorate in theology was earned at Boston University. Her academic credentials are weighty ones and balance beautifully with her pastoral experience dealing with the everyday tasks as the spiritual leader of a parish community.
— GIA Publications, Inc. (http://www.giamusic.com)

Composer Information

A printer by trade, J. Wyeth (b. Cambridge, MA, 1770; d. Philadelphia, PA, 1858) is important in the history of hymnody as a compiler and publisher of early shape-note tunebooks. He worked briefly in Santa Domingo but had to flee when a revolt occurred. In 1792 he settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he lived for much of the rest of his life. A Unitarian, he was coeditor for some thirty-five years of the Federalist newspaper Oracle of Dauphin, a prominent source of news and opinion. Not a musician himself, Wyeth published Repository of Sacred Music (1810) and, with the help of Methodist preacher and musician Elkanah Kelsay Dare, Repository of Music, Part Second (1813). Intended for Methodist and Baptist camp meetings, these tune books contained a number of anonymous folk tunes as well as music by a number of composers, including William Billings. The two volumes influenced the next generation of tunebooks, such as Southern Harmony, and a number of the folk tunes have survived as hymn tunes in various modern hymnals.
— Bert Polman
Jack Grotenhuis (b. 1983; d. 1983) studied music at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa, and the University of lowa, and taught music at Lynden Christian High School, Lynden, Washington, from 1979 to 1981. Like his father, Dale Grotenhuis, his main interest was in choral music, but he also loved jazz. He had almost completed his doctoral program in choral music at the University of Arizona when he died in a traffic accident. 
— Bert Polman
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